ntertainment EDITOR NATALIE CAMERON THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011 7 he Sor, ‘ he SHAWN GILL photo John Proctor, played by Alex Rose, recites the Ten Commandments to Reverend John Hale, played by Noah Rosenbaum in The Crucible. Witch-hunt comes to campus The Voice reviews The Crucible, Studio 58’s most recent production DATES and times Performances now until Oct. 16. ME Tuesday to Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinees 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. HM Evening shows from $17 to $22. Matinees $12. HM $10 Talkback Tuesdays. Source: Studio 58 By SHAWN GILL rthur Miller’s The Crucible, the latest offering from Studio 58, titillates its audience with de- onically possessed, blood drinking “witches”, dancing naked around a cauldron of fire. Guys, cool your jets, The Crucible is high-art not Girls Gone Wild meets Sa- brina the Teenage Witch. The unholy bacchanalia of the first scene sets the stage for the tragedy to follow. From the moment the lights dimmed and the actors took the stage, the play that gave birth to the popular expres- sion “witch-hunt”, transported this critic into the drama of a pious late 17th century New England town torn apart by fears and suspicions of witchcraft. I felt that I was actually a fly on the wall witness to an epic saga of lies and misdeeds that lead an upright puritan town to hang 19 of its citizens and crush another townsmen under a ton of stones. At the centre of the maelstrom stands the beautiful, cunning and psy- chotic teenager Abigail Williams. Her lust for the upstanding farmer John Proctor leads her to accuse Proctor’s wife, the saintly Elizabeth, of conspir- ing with the devil. Superb production, exquisite period costumes, commanding performances from the lead actors and a solid sup- porting cast bring to life Miller’s alle- gory of the oppressive forces of passion and fear overwhelming reason and tol- erance. The play benefits from memorable performances by emerging talents. Most notably: Alex Rose as John Proc- tor, the reluctant hero, who takes on the authorities to defend his wife; Stephanie Moroz as the crafty oppor- tunist Williams and Adam Weidl, as the comically intemperate old man Giles Corey. The Crucible is Miller’s most fre- quently produced work. The central theme, individual expression against social tyranny in a society paralyzed by fear, is timeless. Langara grads debut film at VIFF Two Studio 58 alumni present the world debut of their Canadian short, Wait for Rain this weekend By JENNIFER FONG rules,” at least that's the premise of Wait for Rain, a short film debut- ing at this year's Vancouver Interna- tional Film Festival. In this futuristic comedy global warming has ravaged the world. Food and water are scarce, and plants, the precious commodity they are, are worn as jewelry. A hapless office worker, James, is on a quest to get the attention of the girl he desires. Studio 58 alumni Josh Epstein and Kyle Rideout are the masterminds behind this tale. "We love the un- derdog," Epstein said in a telephone interview. Not that these two could be con- sidered anything of the sort, with im- pressive resumes ranging in every- thing from theatre to animation. "I went to Studio 58 at Langara, and I saw a production of Cabaret by stu- dents there, and I thought, I really want to go to this school," said Rideout, noting it was the moment he realized he wanted to be an actor. Epstein decided to attend Langara after seeing a Studio 58 production of The Shooting Stage. He liked the style and was impressed by how adaptable the actors were. The experience of Studio 58 left such an impression on the duo, Motion 58, the name of their company, pays hom- age to it. VIFF features over 375 films from 75 countries, with this year marking the 30th anniversary of the annual event. “This year, one of the standouts is a tremendous amount of films about the environment,” said Ellie O’Day, media director for VIFF, in a telephone inter- view. “Many of [them] seemed very hope- ful in their tone,” O’Day said. VIFF is running from now until Oct. 14. Wait for Rain is playing Oct. 9, 9:30 pm, at Empire Granville 7, and Oct. 10, 4pm, at Pacific Cinematheque. Visit viff.org for ticket information. |: a world without water, vanity JOSH EPSTEIN Co-creator of Motion 58 Merging the old with the new Photo-imaging students blend historical and recent photos to display changes throughout Vancouver By EMMA CRAWFORD buildings and streets are blended with the current views in an ex- hibit by Langara’s second-year profes- sional photo-imaging students. The pieces, on display at the City of Vancouver Archives, show a synthesis of past and present. The images are juxtaposed to form new, unique illus- trations that highlight the changes the city has experienced. “It’s an opportunity to see the blend of old and new into one image through pine photos of Vancouver a particular artist’s vision, so it’s an im- age that doesn’t exist anywhere,” said Darren Bernaerdt, a Langara profes- sional photo-imaging instructor. Bernaerdt came up with the project idea and assigned it to his class last year. “It’s a whole new interpretation,” he said. Kinesi Mills, a Langara professional photo-imaging student, used the Hotel Europe in Gastown as the basis for her work. She explained that completing the project involved a lot of time and hard work, but the result was rewarding. “Tt was my first all-nighter of the en- tire semester,” she said. “I’m really happy with my picture.” Elijah Yutuc, another professional photo-imaging student, found the as- signment to be an excellent learning experience for him. “T really challenged myself to stay away from the simple processes or the simple techniques,” he said about his scene of Cambie Street by Victory Square. Jeffery Chong, the program coordi- nator at the City of Vancouver Ar- chives, said the exhibit was appropri- ate for the archives because this year is Vancouver’s 125th anniversary. “It’s important too because I think the city’s just changing so much,” Chong said. “That’s when we forget about what the past was, so this is a good way of...making the history rele- vant to today.” The public is welcome to visit the ex- hibit, which is on display until Dec. 23. The archives are located at 1150 Chest- nut Street. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday. EMMA CRAWFORD photo Elijah Yutuc’s is one of the professional photo-imaging students who has his work on display.